CHASING TIME

5 Star Effort by Progressive Metal outfit.

And finally, for those who will not leave the past behind, FORGET JON ARCH.

Ray Alder is by far, the higher quality singer than Arch could ever be. Besides, these men have two entirely different styles of singing.

Arch did well for the first three releases, but Ray Alder is the better suited voice for a band that has seriously progressed in terms of actual music as opposed to noise.

I would recommend this compilation to anyone who has yet to discover this fine group... you will not be disappointed.

When I first got into Prog I quickly realized that the local record stores carried very little in the way of Progressive music. So when I saw this FATES WARNING cd I snapped it up not knowing anything about it. It actually was a perfect place for me to start, as it covers their first ten years as a band.The title "Chasing Time" is taken from a song on "Perfect Symmetry". It was through this release that I fell in love with the music of FATES WARNING. Two of the songs were previously unreleased, while four are from the John Arch era and eight are with Ray Adler.

We get started with "Monument" from "Inside Out" and this is one of my favourite songs from the band.There are some atmospheric passages as well as a great instrumental section 3 minutes in that includes some Fripp-like guitar believe it or not. "The Apparition" introduced me to my now favourite vocalist John Arch as we are served up some heavy slabs of ecstacy ! This is a head-bangers delight and check out the vocal melody that Arch is famous for. Awesome tune ! "Through Different Eyes" and the following song "Point Of View" are both from "Parallels". The first has some scorching guitar in it while in the second the guitars just grind away. Nice.These two tunes are both accessible and melodic. Great job from Adler as well. "Prelude To Ruin" has a sinister, SABBATH like vibe to it and check out the riffs ! Incredible vocal melodies and mood shift 7 minutes in. More amazing vocals from Arch. "Quietus" is Adler's turn to let it rip in this heavy as hell song from "No Exit". Fantastic tune !

"Eye To Eye" is another release from "Parallels" while the next one "Guardian" is one of my all time favourite songs from "Awaken The Guardian". It opens with some beautiful acoustic guitar that is stomped into the ground by heavy guitar solos. This one for some reason hits my emotional button. "At Fates Fingers" is a previously unreleased instrumental that makes this album a must have all by itself, it's that good ! This is a guitar driven wonder ! "Silent Cries" from "No Exit" is the first song the whole band actually wrote together. Great vocals, heavy riffs and scorching guitar solos. "We Only Say Goodbye" from "Parallels" is such a beautiful tune. A nice change of pace."Damnation" from their debut opens quietly enough with reserved vocals and acoustic guitar, but that all changes 2 1/2 minutes in as dual lead guitars crash the soundscape. Great song ! "Circles" another previously unreleased song would have fit nicely on the "Parallels" album, it was a demo from 1993. "The Eleventh Hour" another favourite of mine, that compels me to say "Holy Crap !"

I originally gave this 5 stars because I love it so much, but decided that I couldn't give a compilation cd a masterpiece rating. So 4.5 stars it is.

"Chasing Time" is a compilation album by US progressive/power metal act Fates Warning. The compilation was released through Metal Blade Records in July 1995. Fates Warning were formed under the Misfit monicker in 1982 but changed their name to Fates Warning in 1984. Up until this release they had released seven full-length studio albums. Each of those albums are represented with at least one track on "Chasing Time" (some with more). In addition to the original studio tracks "Chasing Time" also features a two previously unreleased tracks in "At Fates Fingers" and "Circles". The former is an instrumental and re-arranged version of "At Fates Hands" from "Perfect Symmetry (1989)" while the latter was recorded in 1993 but shelved. Some parts of the track would later appear as part of other tracks on "Inside Out (1994)". On a maybe less interesting note "We Only Say Goodbye" from "Parallels (1991)" appears here in a remixed version.

So "Chasing Time" is more or less a best of compilation with a few rarities thrown in to make it a worthwhile purchase for the hardcore fans of the band too. The latter part of the band´s audience need not go out of their way to get "Chasing Time" in my opinion though, as the rarities are only moderately interesting. "Chasing Time" is more a release for the casual listener, who gets an easy way to get into Fates Warning without having to listen to seven full albums of music, and for that purpose the compilation works really well. You get a fairly good idea of the music style on each of the band´s releases. The tracklist is not chronological, which might confuse new listeners, but to my ears the choice to arrange the compilation like that actually works pretty well. You can always argue if the right songs where picked for the tracklist or not, but as it is it´s a pretty good presentation of Fates Warning up until 1995. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)